Art project I did

[Vadriel]

In my Color Theory class, our final project was to take a painting by a famous artist and redo it ourselves...now, normally I ****ing hate painting, but this thing actually turned out nicely, at least imho.

I've never really painted anything this complex before, so it was a hell of a challenge, and cumulatively it took me maybe 5 hours to sketch it using a grid and perhaps 8 hours to paint it...I was working insanely slow, lol.

But yeah, my first real painting, and all of a sudden I'm really enjoying it...I can't wait to start painting something from my own imagination, instead of Salvador Dali's.

Below is a progression. Two of them are pretty similar because the pictures were taken only like an hour and a half apart.

I'm bringing it in for class critique today, wish me luck!

Btw, it's 14x16 inches (unless I'm mistaken, the actual size Dali originally painted it), and done in acrylic paints on watercolor paper.

The name of the painting (if you don't already recognize it, I had it in my sig for a while) is Geopoliticus, sometimes refered to as "a child witnessing the birth of man." If you haven't seen it before, just Google it to see the original.

 

[torrid mind]

nice work.
and the colors do look very nice.

 

[Vadriel]

Thankee. I must say, it was a royal pain in the ass to sit there mixing colors for fifteen minutes before I even put brush to paper, but it's really nuts how relaxing it is...

 

[TheJanitor]

Wow, thats really good! I wish I didn't fail at art! Well done Vadriel.

 

[Vadriel]

Thanks man, I really enjoyed working on it. Now, it's nowhere near the level I'd like to end up as (it's still pretty novice), but I feel like it's a start.

Being able to do at least this much sorta opened up my eyes a bit...I've always been a little pessimistic about my artistic abilities, but with the discovery that I can at least get started painting and probably end up as a pretty good artist...I dunno, I've just been feeling good since I started on this.

 

[Andrew]

That looks really nice. Way better than anything I could make. Nice job. 10/10

 

[Magikarp]

Geopoliticus is a genuinely frightening painting imo. The Scream as well if you know the reason why the figure is covering his ears and holding his mouth open.

So when she said redo did she mean to repaint it with your own touches? I don't notice a whole lot of difference, but either way, I am pretty impressed that you painted something like that. Great work man.

 

[Vadriel]

There was a girl in my class who did The Scream, it actually turned out quite nicely.

And yeah, the project was just to demonstrate our ability to properly mix colors for accuracy's sake, and for craftsmanship and basic skill development.

I'm happy with it...if you had asked me a month ago if I could paint Geopoliticus and make it look like the damn painting, I'd have said "bullshit, you're nuckin futs."

I was surprised as hell when I didn't screw it up the second I touched it with a paintbrush...you should see my watercolor tragedies.

 

[CelestialBadger]

Remembers when you started posting all your bullshit fanboy art in rate a pic and we all tore you a new asshole. I'm seriously glad to see your education is moving you away from that, because if you post more of that shit eventually your body will become riddled with assholes.

It looks pretty good. I'm personally not a fan of the reproducing artwork thing, but it really is a good way to get a handle on technical skills, and it looks like the exercise worked.

Just a couple tips from my limited experience with painting: it helps a lot if you fill in the background layers first. Just makes it a lot easier to fix any mistakes that you've made. Also, and this applies to basically any medium, you should really try to fill in as much midtone value as you can before pushing contrast with highlights and shadows. I tend to do the same thing, focusing on a specific area of a piece and moving on to another when that area is finished, especially if it's something where I'm trying to replicate a work exactly. That kind of practice will hinder you down the road though. If you make a mistake, and need to go back and fix it, it's a lot easier to correct the less time you've put into it. So many times I'll get the values in a specific area nearly perfect only to realize that the proportions wrong, or the color is wrong, or something like that. And more times than not, I'll just say **** it because I spent too much time getting it nearly perfect and don't feel like going back to redo it. If you do that, you'll end up with a lot of average work, not because you are unable to make it better, but just because no one wants to redo something that they already put a lot of time into.

 

[Vadriel]

I appreciate your input. =)

Yeah, one thing that sucked about doing this was that I used such thin paint...it was acrylic, but for smoothness' sake and to make the lighter tones I diluted it a lot with water. It was watercolor paper, so it worked beautifully, but it made covering over other areas pretty ****ing weak.

And I still do figural critter art. It was never "fanboi..." My chars were my own, and I primarily focus around them still, but again, it's all just sketches and stuff. I'll still probably do demons and weapons and the like in my own personal paintings, but I'm kinda leading away from static, flat rp fanart, and trying to go more for videogame-style fantasy art.

 

[Andrew]

Please give me some of your artistic talent.

 

[CelestialBadger]

And I still do figural critter art.

*tears you a new asshole

 

[Gimmi]

it's okay I mean, for the first time you've painted in your life.

 

[Vadriel]

*tears you a new asshole

Lol, I do what interests me...which just so happens to mostly involve demonic beasts and living weapons...I'm sorry, but my imagination isn't satisfied with the limits of the real world.

I don't plan on making a living off of my artistic abilities...this is all recreation and play, so what does it hurt to do whatever?

 

[Gimmi]

my imagination isn't satisfied with the limits of the real world.

Figures. even your imagination is fail in the real world.

 

[Andrew]

I thought you said demonic breasts for a second. That scared me. I bet your work could be better if you had more of a passion for it.

 

[Vadriel]

Figures. even your imagination is fail in the real world.

Buddy, your thinking is backwards. What I said is that the real world fails my imagination.

@Andrew: as a heterosexual teenage male virgin with artistic talent and an affection for the supernatural, you can bet that I've done those too.

 

[CelestialBadger]

Figures. even your imagination is fail in the real world.

hahaha, how do people not like gimmi? I don't get it.

I do what interests me...which just so happens to mostly involve demonic beasts and living weapons...I'm sorry, but my imagination isn't satisfied with the limits of the real world.

Nah, I can totally understand that. I mean, it's better to do something that you're interested in. Also, that's why I started loving art; its potential to alter your perceptions of reality, or even create an entirely new reality. Lately I've been really into more realistic work though, especially abstract expression of reality or abstract concepts. Like how is a concept like trust displayed in a narrative structure or in a strictly visual abstract environment? I'm such a hippy.

oh, by the way, I can post some of the work my drawing prof has had me doing if I get around to it. Need to find a camera.

 

[Andrew]

I would give up a lot to be artistic. I love seeing what people can make through photoshop. I don't really care about actually drawing, but it would be nice if I knew how to make awesome wallpapers/signatures/avatars.

 

[Renzokuken]

**** being artistic. I wasn't made to be artistic.

On topic, great job! Didn't know you had an artistic bone in that body of yours.